Nobodys Fool 6th Chapter Up!
by girlthing
Summary: Samantha moves to New York with her young daughter and unreliable lover only to find Martin amidst his drug problems. How do they overcome their individual problems and progress together and how are they linked through mutual connections?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** _Nobody's Fool_  
**Rating:** _M for Language and Later Chapters_  
**Disclaimers:** _Would i be writing fics if i owned the real life Martin?!  
_**Comments:** _This is my first story to reviews would be appreciated eso Constructive Criticism.  
_

The hallway was dark as she crept out of her nursery, mere blushes of orange being drawn by the glow of the city that never slept filtering through the windows. The shadows aligned where the light had not been strong enough to reach, casting ominous corners where monsters could potentially lurk. It was in these spaces her eyes would dart to every so often, the dark pools of blue forcing through white to glance from side to side before returning to focus once again on finding her way to the sanctuary of her parents bedroom. Her blonde curls bounced, as she tiptoed, none too lightly, trying to avoid the rogue floorboards she knew, even at this young age would give her away too early.

The tiny, childlike hand, barely covering the doorknob, turned it cautiously and pushed it open just enough for her to be able to slip through the gap, and remain nervously for a few seconds, hearing the soft lull of breathing coming from just before her. Shifting from foot to foot, she debated her next move, unable to gage the reaction she would get when her parents realised she wanted to spend another night with them instead of in 'her new even bigger girl bed,' which she had so begged for in previous weeks.

They couldn't blame her, moving to a new city had been tough, especially for a four year old. Hell, it had been hard for them, they couldn't imagine how she was interpreting all the changes going on around her.

She knew her mother would be on the left, so she inched forward, her feet shuffling on the floor, hands tugging at her tiny white cotton nightdress she wore anxiously. She wasn't afraid of the monsters in the hallway anymore, knowing she was near enough to wake them up if they jumped out on her.

'Mommy,' she whispered, barely audible above the silence engulfing the sleeping household. Her mother shifted, a few strands of hair cascading over her face as she moaned softly and tried to snuggle her head further into the pillow. 'Mommy,' she tried again, reaching forward to poke the hand draped over the side of the bed. A flicker of acknowledgement washed over the face, as she rolled onto her back and forced her eyes open, upon registering her daughter's presence. Yawning and sitting up slightly to lean over the side of the bed, she blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the dark.

'Cadi?' She croaked in a sleep-induced voice. 'You have another nightmare?'

Cadi nodded her head violently, and looked up at Sam with pleading eyes. 'I wanna sleep with you and Daddy.' She bit her bottom lip, as the familiar feeling of tears threatening to fall overcame her. 'Please?' She added, a little more desperately this time.

Sam exhaled softly, and brushed the hair out of her eyes, knowing that although she wouldn't be able to say no, she really shouldn't be giving into her demands and instead taking her back to her bedroom and showing her that there were no monsters. She motioned Cadi up with her head, and reached over to help her up, mentally cursing herself for being too lazy to get out of bed and do the right thing. Sam moved closer to the edge of the bed allowing Cadi to squeeze into the middle and fidget her way into a comfortable position before allowing herself to wrap an arm around her young daughter and rub her back soothingly, willing her to go back to sleep as quickly as she herself knew she would.

'Sam,' a voice came through the darkness from the other side of the bed.

'Yeah?' she questioned, already knowing what was coming.

'Take her back to bed babe, she should be getting used to a new house by now.'

Sam sighed, 'James, it's 2am, I'm tired and I start a new job tomorrow. She's already gone back to sleep, just leave her.' She punctuated the last three words, knowing that in his irritation he would probably take it upon himself to put her back to bed. She let her eyes drift shut, feeling his hand clasp hers as it drifted up her daughters back, and lips press against it softly in silent apology.

'Tomorrow will be fine,' he added, sensing her apprehension. 'You'll do great.'


	2. Chapter 2

Twirling in front of the mirror, she ended facing Cadi who was perched on the end of the bed, still in her pyjamas.

'This one?' She asked motioning to beige trousers and casual black top she was wearing. Cadi shook her head, scrunching up her face in disapproval.

Sam's form visibly slumped, as she rummaged around in he wardrobe to the left of her and pulling out another outfit. She changed quickly, and looked for her daughters opinion.

'Mmm.'

'Mmm?'

'Mmm,' Cadi confirmed nodding.

Sam laughed, and yanked out one more item of clothing, a black shirt to swap with the top she had on. 'Cadi Alara Lindley, I'm not being just 'Mmm,' on my first day.' She raised an eyebrow and pulled on the white shirt.

'This is the last thing I have that is suitable for work,' looking into the glass and smiling inwardly at what she saw. Her youthful looks had remained, and her figure, even post baby was incredible. The other Mums would laugh good naturedly as they teased her, refusing to believe she didn't spend all day in the gym to regain it.   
Giggling, she nodded her head enthusiastically. 'I like that one,' she agreed. 'That one's perfect.'

'I seriously hope the judgement of a four year old is similar to the judgement of my new colleagues,' Her mother grinned, moving her toward the bed and sweeping the little girl into her arms. 'Else you, my beautiful baby bundle will have some serious making up to do.'

Forty-five minutes later, Sam tugged at the 'perfect' shirt anxiously, her heart pounding as she was stood in the elevator leading up to the 14th floor of the NY Federal Building. To the outside eye, switching teams would seem an easy task for a person who'd seen death, suffering, grief and torment, sometimes all in one day; yet this seemed to defeat them all. Leaving California had been hard, she'd made few but good friends there, all of whom were sad to see her go. Mostly, she was missing Fliss who'd been with her from day one, and always stood by her in the numerous situations Sam seemed to get herself into. Yet Sam had finally given into James's constant argument to move to the East coast so they could be nearer to both their families. Well, his at least. He'd only met hers once, and that had been enough. To say her mother and sister had hated him had been an understatement. Poor guy had lasted barely three minutes, before excusing himself and sitting in the car until Sam was finished, claiming stomach upsets.

Sam smiled at the memory, able to see a twisted funny side to it, before shaking herself out of her memories and concentrating once again on her surroundings as the doors slid open and she glimpsed her new floor for the first time. It was open plan, and spacious, with people milling around just about everywhere, discussing cases, sharing opinions and formulating plans. She exhaled the breath she'd been unaware she'd been holding and relaxed a little as she noted the various similarities to the office in San Diego. She looked around as her guide moved toward the right hand side of the floor, and took in the appearance of some of her colleagues. IHow the heck does my four year old know exactly what I should wear, and when?/I she wondered, a small smile playing visibly on her lips. She came to a stop behind her guide at a large table surrounded by a group of desks. The table was occupied by three agents already, who looked up expectantly.


	3. Chapter 3

'You must be Samantha,' The man at the head of the table stood up, and strode round extending his hand in greeting. 'Jack Malone, and this,' he motioned to the man and woman still sitting, 'is the calvary. Danny and Vivian.' She looked them over, trying not to make it to obvious that she was profiling their appearance, as they greeted her warmly. The man was obviously of some Spanish inheritance, kind of tall, dark and handsome and if his cheeky grin hadn't reminded her five year old nephew, she would've found him quite attractive. The lady had a friendly smile, almost motherly, her dark skin crinkling at the corners of her mouth.

Sam grinned. 'Hey,' she waved, as Jack motioned her to a seat.

She sat down into her chair and got herself comfortable, answering the little questions being thrown her way about herself. Jack had wondered back into his office, letting the agents get acquainted.

'I thought there were four of you guys?' she asked as they chatted quietly. 'I swear that's what the application said.' She looked at them curiously, unable to believe the FBI had got it's own application form wrong. Danny and Viv looked at each other knowingly, giving Sam the uncomfortable feeling you get when you've just put you're foot in it. 'I'm sorry,' she quickly added, 'It's none of my business.'

'No,' Viv answered quietly. 'It is, you're part of this team now. You deserve to know. Martin's, well Martin's…he's, he's had a few problems recently and he's taking some time off. He was..'

'That's ok,' Sam interrupted, sensing that this was a subject not often talked about. 'He's taking some time off, that's all I need to know. It's really ok.' Although her inquisitive nature was dying to know where this Martin guy was, she understood that personal problems of co-workers weren't shared with new colleagues on the first day.

'Thanks' Vivian breathed, warming immediately to the agent. 'So, your desk is that one,' she pointed over to one on the left hand side of the table. 'You want help getting settled in?'

As Sam was placing her stuff haphazardly into it's new surrounding, she casually glanced over all the other desks, taking note of what was deemed appropriate for desk furniture.

'Is this?' Sam pointed at the plaque on the desk next to hers. 'Martin Fitzgerald, as in…'

'Yeah, his son.'

Sam raised an eyebrow and smirked. 'Taking over the family business huh?'

'You think you've seen chalk and cheese,' Vivian laughed, 'Think again.'


	4. Chapter 4

Martin leant back into the comfy leather sofa, and moved his shoulders trying to relax a little as he began what felt like his hundredth session with Lisa. It wasn't that he didn't like her, or think her sessions weren't helping him in his stages of recovery, he just felt like sometimes, she just didn't understand. It was that simple.

'So,' Lisa began, opening the little, black notebook that Martin had seen so frequently before, 'how have you been holding up since I last saw you?'

Martin cocked his head to one side and pursed his lips up in thought. 'I'm actually feeling better, like I'm making improvements you know?' He said, as Lisa nodded before him. 'I'm starting to notice that I'm not shaking as much which is a definite plus, and I'm not waking so often in the nights.'

Lisa smiled. 'That's great,' she said. 'It means that mentally you're beginning to be less dependant on the medication. 'That's really good Martin. And how does that make you feel about life in general?'

'It makes me think I can beat this,' he answered without hesitation. He grinned. 'I know I can get past this. I'm getting through the hardest bit, and surviving.'  
They continued to chat, although for the first time in their sessions, it was more friendly, covering a wider range of topics rather than just Martins addiction and NA meetings. He was grateful for this. Normality, he felt, was what helped him the most. No analysis, no sympathy and no patronising advice.

'Have you seen any of the others?' Lisa asked as they stood to end the session.

Martin shook his head. 'I was actually thinking I might show some face today as it happens,' he replied.

Lisa gave him a thumbs up. 'If you trusted your own advice a little more, you'd have the makings of a great therapist.'

Martin gave a snort of laughter as he walked out, managing to crane his neck over his shoulder and retort, 'Yeah but I'd put you out of a job.

Martin felt a small, coy smile spread over his face as he thought of the surprise he'd give his co-workers when he showed up on the floor. In truth, not working was killing him. He'd never realised just how much he loved his job until it had almost been taken from him. He moved confidently into the elevator and punched the button marked '14.' He wrung his hands in nervous excitement as the light moved from the seventh to the eighth button, and shuffled from foot to foot as it moved from eighth to ninth. By the time it hit the tenth he was almost jumping up and down as he wondered what gossip they'd have to tell him.

As it got to eleventh, he had suddenly stopped jumping up and down and the small smile playing on his features had faded, as he remembered what day it was. Today was the day Danny had mentioned the rookie would start. He felt sick to the stomach at the twelfth floor, wondering how they'd explained to him or her why they were one agent down. He ran a hand through his hair and mentally cursed himself before smashing his hand against the '0' button, and putting both hands over his face in defeat. He couldn't do it, not face the questions, or explain his actions, or feeling the weight of shame and guilt he only just began to ply from his shoulders. He walked like a broken man out of the federal building and hailed his taxi back to the apartment he'd been trapped in since this whole mess started.


	5. Chapter 5

'What do you think the other kids will be like?' Cadi asked nervously, as she sat on her mothers lap at the kitchen table.

'I'm sure you'll like them sweetie,' Sam reassured her soothingly. Cadi looked up at her mother, and leant back into her chest. 'What if they don't like me though?' She persisted, shuffling round so they were now face to face. 'And what if I hate them?' She swallowed and lowered her eyes. Sam bit her lip, knowing just how incredibly nervous her daughter on the night before she started her first day at her new school. It would be the feeling she had had that same morning before starting at the bureau, intensified by about a million.

She ran a hand through her daughters golden curls, and used the other hand to lift up her chin so she could look into her eyes. 'I promise you baby, that you'll be ok. Remember how nice the other kids were when we went to look,' she waited until Cadi nodded her head unsurely. 'Remember how Mrs Rutherford said Rhiannon would look after you?'

Cadi nodded. 'Rhiannon was nice.'

Sam smiled, 'Yeah, she was. See, you already have one friend.'

Sam leant down and pressed a kiss to Cadi's forehead as she felt two tiny arms wrap round her neck.

Shutting the door of the bedroom quietly, Sam headed back into the living room, seeing James

unmoved from the position he'd been in since he'd gotton home from work in front of a football game. 'James, Cadi wants you to go and say goodnight.' She told him, leaning over the back of the sofa to plant a kiss into his scruffy, blonde hair.

'Two seconds babe.'

Sam sighed. 'She needs to go to sleep soon, she has a big day tomorrow.'

'Yeah, yeah…in a sec.' He took a swig of the beer he was holding, and resumed concentration in the game.

'Jay,' She hated sounding like that nagging wife everyman despises. She moved round to sit next to him, and placed a hand on his leg. 'Please? She needs to get a good night.'

James tore his eyes away from the screen, and looked at her, seeing the silent plea in her eyes. Clearing his throat, he held his beer out to her, and used his hand to stroke her cheek, giving her a small apologetic wink before getting to his feet and rewinding down the route Sam had just taken from putting their little girl to bed.

She watched him go, and took a small sip from his beer, before slouching into the sofa and closing her eyes. There had been something different about him recently. It had started since way before they'd moved over here; infact she'd thought moving here would've been the answer. Apparently that wasn't the case. He'd just seemed detached. She remembered the days in the earlier stages of their relationship, two years ago or so, when he would practically jump whenever she or Cadi asked something of him, yet although she could never pinpoint the exact day it had happened, he'd suddenly stopped being so attentive and eager to please her. She took one more sip of his beer, before she felt the sofa dip as he slumped down beside her once again and prised the bottle out of her fingers. 'There's more in the fridge babe, grab me another if you get one.' She'd almost grinned bitterly at his request. II guess the honeymoon period is really over./I she thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Martin tore his eyes open, as the shrill sound of the telephone screeched through his sleepy brain like an express train. Groaning, he flailed blindly over his nightstand, looking for the guilty object, whilst trying to adjust his eyes to the light.

'Fitzgerald,' he yawned into the phone, stretching his eyes wide and glancing over at the alarm clock.

'And where the heck did you get to yesterday Fitzy?' Danny's voice came booming cheerfully over the phone, overlooking Martin's heavy voice and the fact that it was barely 9am. 'I ran into Lisa this morning.'

Martin rolled over and let his eyes drift shut. 'And?'

'Well, she seemed to think you stopped by here yesterday afternoon,' Danny answered. 'She had it in her head,' he smirked over the phone, 'that you had told her you were going to come see us?' Martin could imagine exactly what face Danny had plastered on his features at that very moment. The mock questioning, his eyes in fake wonder, and that annoying little smile.

'Yeah, I um…I didn't think it was such a good idea – freaking out the rookie on her first day.' He cleared his throat and sighed, feeling sleep begin to overcome him slowly. It took all of his concentration to listen to what Danny was saying.

'She's no interested man. She doesn't want to know the details, she just knows your having some time off.' She heard him chuckle. 'It's kind of a shame you didn't pop in, because she's exactly your type man.'

Martin opened one eye on these words, and snorted with laughter. 'Yeah yeah, I'll try and drop by today. Happy?'

'You made my day. So how're you doing anyway?'

Martin rolled onto his back, running a hand through his hair and resigned himself to the fact that he'd have to stay awake.

'I'm good, meeting my sister's new boyfriend for dinner later. He just moved over from out West, she's pretty madly in love.'

'That could've been me,' Danny grinned.

'Yeah, had it not been the worst date you'd both ever been on!' Martin retorted, remembering both of the sides of a horrendous story he'd been told.

'I told you man, it's because the more I looked at her, the more I swear, she looked like you. It gave me a complex!'

Martin burst into laughter, and shook his head in disbelief. 'Every woman gives you a complex for some reason. That's why you never stay with them for longer than a week.'

Martin glanced around the restaurant looking for his sisters familiar, friendly face, and feeling the sudden overwhelming nervousness that perhaps he'd got the wrong restaurant, or even worse, the wrong night. He bit his lip, and turned to move back into the foyer, prepared to call her and check he had the plan right before he heard his name being called a few feet away from him. He spun round, and smiled in delight as he saw his baby sister, standing with her arms crossed.

'Thinking of leaving?' She asked sarcastically. She laughed as she moved toward him, her arms outstretched.

Martin enveloped her into a hug, before pushing her back and taking a look at her. She was dressed, as he normally saw her, in a flowing skirt, pretty and feminine, giving her an innocent edge that Martin knew probably didn't exist, especially if her good natured punches were anything to go by.

'You look great,' he complimented her, and ruffled her hair.

She took hold of his arm, and looked behind her, reaching out and grabbing the arm of a man stood just a few inches behind her.

'Martin,' she pulled the man forward. 'This is Jimmy. Jimmy, Martin.'

The two men looked each other up and down, before shaking hands. Martin smiled, drinking in the mans appearance and immediately beginning to profile him off physical appearance. He looked smartly dressed and groomed, but anybody could make an effort. His eyes looked different. Warm and friendly, but when he smiled and said 'How do you do?' it didn't quite reach his eyes. Martin kicked himself. He was probably just nervous, he thought, since he's just moved thousands of miles to be with someone who's family he hasn't even met yet.

Half an hour later, the three of them sat comfortable having just finished their starters, in light conversation as Martin and Jimmy found out a little more about each other.

'So, what is it exactly you do for a living,' Jimmy asked, taking a sip of his beer. 'He swallowed as he continued, 'Trish said you traced missing people?'

Martin smiled, absent-mindedly picking at the tablecloth with one hand. 'Yeah it's Missing Persons with the FBI.' He met Jimmy's eyes and swore he saw a flicker of something. He took a few moments, registering what he had seen before he sat up and stopped fidgeting immediately trying to suss out what exactly had flashed over Jimmy's face when he'd spoken.

Fugitive, ex-con…Silence engulfed the table. Trish looked between the two men, the table earlier atmosphere suddenly electric with tension. 'What is it?' She asked innocently.

Jimmy blinked a few times, and looked at Martin noticing how his posture had changed, and the eyes that were now focused directly on him. He cleared his throat and looked over at Trish.

'Sorry, I uh…' He stumbled and shifted in his seat, taking a few moments. 'I had a friend who worked in the FBI.' He stopped again, his eyes darting about nervously, in obvious thought on how to phrase his next words. 'There was this thing he was working on, a stakeout or something. He was hurt, the guy shot at him. Killed him instantly.'

Martin's eyes widened as he saw Jimmy's eyes lower, and he immediately felt guilty for his earlier assumptions. Across the table, Trish had moved her hand to cover her partners, her thumb caressing his skin in a subconscious effort to ease the pain he felt at the memories.

'I'm sorry,' Martin murmured. 'It's hard losing someone you're close to like that.' Trish looked up at him gratefully as he spoke. 'One of our guys was hit a few years ago, and even though he pulled through, it was still one of the worst moments of my life thinking I'd lost someone I'd worked and been friends with.'

Jimmy looked up and a small smile flickered over his face. 'Thanks. It's a dangerous job. Credit to you guys for doing it.' He lifted his beer and a small toast, and interlocked his fingers with Trish's.


End file.
